Hat holder



y 1952 E. -GRONEMEYE 3,036,698

HAT HOLDER Filed Aug. 16, 1960 Ff q- J JNVENTOR.

ERICH GRONEMEYER ilnited States Patent 01 3,036,698 HAT HOLDER Erich Gronemeyer, Ocean City, N.J., assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 16, 196i), Ser. No. 49,893 4 Claims. (Cl. 206-8) This invention relates to a device for holding a hat or the like. In preferred embodiments thereof the device of the invention is adapted for the packing and/or display of a hat.

Mens felt hats, usually in unblocked or domed shape, are customarily shipped to stores loosely packed in boxes. As a result of such manner of packing, the felt of the hat quite often becomes flattened in one or more of the spots upon which the hat has rested. It is therefore frequently necessary for a salesman to brush the hat to restore its nap to substantially uniform condition before the hat is placed on display or exhibited to a customer.

In a store selling mens hats, it is conventional practice to display a number of blocked or shaped hats on display stands or forms which are supported, for example, on a counter. Because of dust and dirt in the air of the store, the displayed hats are usually removed from their stands at the end of the business day and are stored overnight in covered hat boxes. The hats must be removed from the boxes and restored to their display stands at the beginning of the next business day. Not only do these operations require a substantial amount of time, but they entail considerable undesirable handling of the hat.

The present invention has among its objects the provision of a novel device for holding a hat or the like.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a hat-holding device which may advantageously be employed in the display of a hat held by it.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a device for holding a hat or the like which substantially removes the necessity for the hat to rest with any substantial portion of its outer surface in forcible contact with any supporting or enclosing surface.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a novel device for holding a hat which is simply and economically made, and which is simple to assemble and use.

The above and further objects and novel features of the invention will more fully appear from the following description when the same is read in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only, and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views,

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of an illustrative holding device for a hat in accordance with the invention, the device being shown tipped forwardly somewhat as in a display position, a hat held by the device being shown in phantom lines;

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective taken from the front of the thus held hat, the hat and the holding device being shown within a hat box;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged view in vertical, generally axial section through the box, hat and hat holding device of FIG. 2, certain of the parts being shown in elevation;

FIG. 4 is a view in plan of the arch member of the hat holding device of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in vertical section through the lower end of an arm of a modified arch member of the hat holding device of the invention.

Turning now to the drawings, a typical hat is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 mounted on a hat holding device 11. Device 11 includes a broad base member 12 which may be made, for example, of paperboard. Member 12 serves to support an arch member 13 over which the hat fits as shown. The arch member 13 is designed resiliently to engage the lower inner sidewall of the hat so as to sustain much if not all of the weight of the hat.

Arch member 13 in the embodiment shown is in the form of a cross having two equal longer arms 15 and two equal shorter arms 16, the arms being integrally connected at their zone of intersection. Member 13 may be made of any suitable resilient sheet material; in a preferred embodiment member 13 is molded in generally fiat form of resilient plastic material. The ends of arms 15 and 16 are provided with outwardly directed flanges or feet 17 which are disposed to lie generally horizontal when the arch member is in its assembled operative position.

The base member 12 is provided with adjusted from their outermost positions, in which the outer surfaces of the arms immediately above the flanges 17 contact the outer edges of respective openings 19, to the innermost position, shown in phantom lines in FIG. 3, wherein the inner surfaces of the arms contact the inner edges of the respective openings 19.

Preferably base member 12 is provided at each opening 19 with a spacer member which elevates it above a broad openings 19. Spacers tached to the inner edges of base member 12 and folded inwardly to lie under the base member. The use of the spacers 20 allows the outer ends of flanges fairly freely to which the device is used.

The hat holding device of the invention functions to hold a hat 10 with little or no hat-supporting force being exerted upon any of the outer surfaces of the hat. Thus the outer surfaces 23 of generally upright portions 22 of exert sufficient holding force axially upon the hat so that the underside of the hat brim 21 need not engage the upper surface of base member 12 with hat-holding force.

Where hats may be shipped upside down, an arch member such as that shown in FIG. 5 may be used to advantage. The arms of the arch member may be externally roughened, whereby to present increased frictional holding of the inner periphery of the hat. In FIG. 5, an arm 16' of an alternative arch member is provided with a (three shown) member may be thus provided with roughened outer surfaces such as shown in FIG. 5. The arms 16 are each provided with flanges or feet 17' similar to the abovedescribed flanges 17 on arm 16 in the first embodiment of the device. With such arch member, the hat is firmly retained by the holder even though the holder and hat may be turned through various angles, or shipped upside down.

The hat holder of the invention lends itself to use addescriptive advertising matter. The arch member 13 is sufficiently shallow, as shown in FIG. 3, to permit the dome 25 of the hat to be creased, shaped, or blocked, thereby creating an attractive display, without interfering with the action of the arch member.

In FIGS. 2 and 3 the hat holder 11 is shown contained within an oval hat box 26 having a sidewall 27 and a bottom 29, the base member 12 forming the false bottom in the box. The dimensions of the base member 12 and of the hat box are such that the corners 30 of the base member snugly frictionally engage the wall of the box. With such construction, the hat box itself may serve as the display support for the holder 11 and the hat thereon. The base member 12 will then be slid up within the box to a position such that it lies near the upper end of the box parallel to its position as shown in FIG. 2 but with the hat protruding from the box. The box may then be tipped to display the hat. At the end of the business day the hats thus displayed may readily be covered by sliding the hat supports downwardly within their boxes and covering the boxes, either by their own box tops or by draping a protective web or dust cover over groups of display boxes.

Although only a limited number of embodiments of the invention have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the foregoing specification, it is to be especially understood that various changes, such as in the relative dimensions of the parts, materials used, and the like, as well as the suggested manner of use of the apparatus of the invention, may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as will now be apparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for holding a hat or the like, comprising a broad base member, a resiliently deformable hat-retaining arch means adapted to be received within and yieldably to engage a hat positioned above the base member with its brim generally parallel to such member, said arch means including a plurality of angularly spaced arms radiating from a Zone centrally of the hat, said arms having their lower ends attached to the base member, and means attaching the lower ends of the arms to the base member, said last-named means including flanges on the lower ends of the arms extend-ing parallel to the broad extent of the base member, aligned openings in the base member through which the lower ends of the arms extend, said openings being of appreciable length in directions generally radially of the arch means, the flanges lying beneath portions of the base member and being freely slidable with respect thereto as the lower ends of the arms are adjusted along the lengths of the respective openings in the base member.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, comprising a box having a bottom in the form of a broad support, the base member lying on the broad support to form a false bottom in the box, spacers lying beneath the base member in the vicinity of the openings therethrough, said spacers elevating the base member above the broad support to provide space for the reception of the flanges on the arms between the broad support and the base member.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the spacers are formed of the material cut from the base member in forming the openings therethrough, each of said spacers being attached by a fold at one end to the edge of the respective opening in the base member.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flanges on the arms extend radially outwardly of the arch means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 716,251 Weatherhead Dec. 16, 1902 1,736,809 Van Dyke Nov. 26, 1929 1,784,333 Bruer Dec. 9, 1930 1,856,921 Lowenthal et al. May 3, 1932 

